TR Replies
Not really too much more to add about this trip. Higher elevations were beat up by the wind. The alpine slopes on the northwest face of Mt. Bachelor had enormous wind sculptures on it. The only visible slides were on a small lee slope leading up to Broken Top and an old small slide in one of the chutes we skied. The slides on the small slope leading up to Broken Top appeared to be caused by cornice failure.
Does anyone know the name of the mountain/zone above Todd Lake?
Does anyone know the name of the mountain/zone above Todd Lake?
This is Tour 55 of Volken's new Backcountry Tours guidebook. From end of #55 section read in reverse for this up-route. I do not recommend skiing the Kendall Slide right now. If you don't already have this book you should pick it up at Pro Guiding Service in North Bend on your way up to the pass.
Where does the Kendall Trail Start? Looking to tour tomorrow....trying to stay in trees!
sure looks like our snowpack is hugely variable and complex.
Wow - some of those failures look pretty low angle. I'm going out for a look myself to get some exercise and exploring in the valley.
Thanks for the results! Impressive performances!
author=cascadekid link=topic=30805.msg129028#msg129028 date=1392881173]
I repeat: please submit observations to NWAC. It's easy and its more useful than doing it here.
And to be clear: it doesn't matter your experience level. Write what you see.
that’s a great observation map but I doubt it will get much participation from Mt Hood skiers, the lack of TR’s on this forum is not from a lack of backcountry skiers...
I repeat: please submit observations to NWAC. It's easy and its more useful than doing it here.
And to be clear: it doesn't matter your experience level. Write what you see.
And to be clear: it doesn't matter your experience level. Write what you see.
I dont have a paper record, but will add mine for Sunday 2/16, Mt Hood.
Elev 5600, NE aspect,~30deg ECTX, about 9" of overnight powder on lee aspect on a supportable rain crust. noted another rain crust layer deeper in the snowpack maybe 3feet.
Sorry not as technical, I'm still learning the science.
Elev 5600, NE aspect,~30deg ECTX, about 9" of overnight powder on lee aspect on a supportable rain crust. noted another rain crust layer deeper in the snowpack maybe 3feet.
Sorry not as technical, I'm still learning the science.
Please submit these observations to NWAC so that they can be used for forecasting.
http://www.wwu.edu/huxley/spatial/maps/nwac/
http://www.wwu.edu/huxley/spatial/maps/nwac/
That slope is sort of my favorite short lap above Clara Lake. Damn it.
The Easterners may be slow, but they sure had fun! http://www.justgetout.net/Wenatchee/post/The-Patrol-Race-Revisited
Oh by the way, that "attractive blonde" is Nigel's wife Sarah. :)
Funnest moments of the day for me at Checkpoint 2, sharing conversation with "my people," the old geezers, male and female. Congratulations, well done.
Oh by the way, that "attractive blonde" is Nigel's wife Sarah. :)
Funnest moments of the day for me at Checkpoint 2, sharing conversation with "my people," the old geezers, male and female. Congratulations, well done.
When I'm old and sitting in my rocker, my claim to fame will be that I used to try to follow your tracks every now and then.
Oh wait, I already am old, and already do make that claim.
Oh wait, I already am old, and already do make that claim.
Results: http://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-6549?lc=en
If there is another foot or two of snow on top of the hard crust near the bottom of the pack, I doubt that I would even go up the logging road as the areas between the switchbacks are very steep and not anchored by trees in many areas.
An 'upside down snowpack' is also referred to when a storm comes in cold and goes out warm. You get low-density snow (cold dry) on the bottom, then when the temperatures warm up the top layer will be high-density (warm heavy) snow. Upside down snowpack. This would be an unstable scenario. Also can be referred to as 'storm slab'.
A 'right side up snowpack' refers to a storm coming in wet and going out cold, which is a good scenario. The wet snow typically...
A 'right side up snowpack' refers to a storm coming in wet and going out cold, which is a good scenario. The wet snow typically...
We were up at Blewett today. It's amazing to see how much snow is there now compared to when we visited on Friday. It looks like mid-Winter now instead of late fall!! The snow was great, but we just did some of the XC trails and low angle trees for exercise before going to ski at Snoqualmie. Whatever layers were of concern that avajane mentioned are now buried under an impressive amount of new snow. I'd be curious to hear what others who go up there this week find in terms of snow stab...
author=kerwinl link=topic=30781.msg128844#msg128844 date=1392684401]
The windslab in general will be denser as the wind breaks down the snow crystals and allows them to pack in more tightly, windslab (dense snow) over light powder is upside down in terms of ideal snowpack (where you would want the most dense layers on the bottom). It is advisable to avoid windslabs over weak snow (upside-down snow), as the wind-slabs are most likely not bonding to anything und...
The windslab in general will be denser as the wind breaks down the snow crystals and allows them to pack in more tightly, windslab (dense snow) over light powder is upside down in terms of ideal snowpack (where you would want the most dense layers on the bottom). It is advisable to avoid windslabs over weak snow (upside-down snow), as the wind-slabs are most likely not bonding to anything underneath them, and thus relying on the strength of the slab to prevent release.
Yes Aaron, that was the area. Only been able to ski there recently. After the first snow I went up but it was a disaster as there was 18" of dry powder and the bottom was rock and dirt.
The crust that formed during the warm spell allowed this weekends skiing.
The crust that formed during the warm spell allowed this weekends skiing.
Were you near King Creek avajane? We were up there yesterday on the other side of the highway between 5 Mile and Tronsen. I was surprised at the variability in snow depth. Roughly 2 feet on the level in protected areas and drifting on the lee of ridge tops to 4 feet or more. In exposed areas and under the canopy just a thin layer over dirt and pine needles.
Yes snow can collect a lot faster than that. At Mission I've seen foot thick wind pillows form in less than an hour on Windy...
Yes snow can collect a lot faster than that. At Mission I've seen foot thick wind pillows form in less than an hour on Windy...
Yeah, wind can move an amazing amount of snow very quickly. An area like Blewett (dry side of crest, lighter snow, shallower snowpack) can showcase this well. My GF and I were up there on Friday and it was quite windy. We played around on the ridges and in the trees and I dug a big pit for her for the purpose of education. I'd say average snow depth was 2 1/2 feet, give or take,but within a fairly small area we saw everything from bare ground to roughly 6' of snowpack where I dug the p...
Silas/Susan thanks for the report and pictures, looks like a good crowd, tough day.
Thanks for the TR!
Have you seen the NWAC observation page? Observations can be added by anyone on their GIS page. Seems like a pretty cool tool for sharing data easily.
Have you seen the NWAC observation page? Observations can be added by anyone on their GIS page. Seems like a pretty cool tool for sharing data easily.
Wind can move a lot of snow quickly. The FSAvalanche page claims deposition rates as high as 10 times that of natural snowfall.
http://www.fsavalanche.org/Encyclopedia/wind_loading.htm
At Alpental yesterday, a 10" windlip leading into the lower entrance to Upper Nash rarely showed more than two tracks, even though skiers were skiing through it at least once every minute or two. When conditions are right, you can see far more loading than 1' in 20 hr.
...
http://www.fsavalanche.org/Encyclopedia/wind_loading.htm
At Alpental yesterday, a 10" windlip leading into the lower entrance to Upper Nash rarely showed more than two tracks, even though skiers were skiing through it at least once every minute or two. When conditions are right, you can see far more loading than 1' in 20 hr.
...
Thanks for the pics Susan and Charlie!
My photos are here, mostly covering the first third-to-half of the pack.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64728404@N03/sets/72157641043441094/
If you lost a belt on the race, one of the racers handed it off to us. Identify it, perhaps including the distinctive manufacturer, and it's yours.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64728404@N03/sets/72157641043441094/
If you lost a belt on the race, one of the racers handed it off to us. Identify it, perhaps including the distinctive manufacturer, and it's yours.
Thanks for the update, Silas - I was stuck at the office all day. That would be Holly Walker Davis, I assume, there are two Holly Walkers who do Vertfest . . .
Charlie and I opted to do some spectating this year. Here are my pictures looking down on the race from Chair 1, from the top of bootpack 1, and from lap 2 just outside of elevator gate:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/susanashlock/sets/72157641061576923/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/susanashlock/sets/72157641061576923/
http://www.revelstoketimesreview.com/news/245704531.html?mobile=true
Sad day, I don't think they will be the last to die from this layer. They might not even be the last to die this long weekend. Now I know what the helicopter was long lining from bolder this afternoon on my way home...
Sad day, I don't think they will be the last to die from this layer. They might not even be the last to die this long weekend. Now I know what the helicopter was long lining from bolder this afternoon on my way home...
As an amendment, just around the corner toward Mission, there was another natural release that took out the boundary ropes, and left a 5 or 6 foot debris pile on the terrain break. There are still plenty of bear traps out there.
When I was there with Mike in low snow conditions, I skied back to the inbounds area across an obvious steep avalanche slope and said something about "big slides and bad runnouts" I was particularly impressed by the huge terrain trap the basin below made. Is the ski area just left of those pictures? Thanks for posting. Stay safe.
Thanks John...Super helpful info...variable funkyness all over.
Great report and excellent analysis and self-awareness. Thanks for your willingness to share.
Glad you made it home safe. We all need to hear these reminders on the regular.
So much for thinking the scree could still be providing some anchoring in the shallow snowpack! A good safe lesson for me to remember, thanks for posting it.
John
John
Fantastic skiing today inbounds at Mission. LOTS of results from control work, explosive and ski cut.
author=mikerolfs link=topic=30744.msg128648#msg128648 date=1392318282]
I think maybe the ski area is a good place to be for a few days.
Amen Brother.
Scary. Natural slides in areas we frequent. I skied in-bounds yesterday (same time you were seeing this) and did not see similar. I think maybe the ski area is a good place to be for a few days.
That's the region we were in the day prior. I was nearby on Sunday the conditions had changed drastically.
There was an unsupportable crust with some saturation of the near-surface snow where we were. It was not a good day to be skiing.
On the way out heather canyon on Saturday, we were sympathetically triggering collapses on the flats as conditions warmed towards 5 pm. I think that's likely when those fractures formed that you saw the following day (see photo i...
There was an unsupportable crust with some saturation of the near-surface snow where we were. It was not a good day to be skiing.
On the way out heather canyon on Saturday, we were sympathetically triggering collapses on the flats as conditions warmed towards 5 pm. I think that's likely when those fractures formed that you saw the following day (see photo i...
Sunday we super sketchy over on Pea Gravel ridge. The snow definitely changed overnight from light powder to heavy snow making it nearly impossible to turn. We saw several natural fracture in the tree line and heard whumphing sounds on our ascent up. Definitely not safe anywhere up there right now.
Thanks for the report. I'm going to paste your conclusions after the close call here, in case folks don't visit to read the whole thing. Good insights.
[quote="cascadekid's report"]Commitment: Though we had inched only 20′ or so onto the slope from the ridge line before digging a pit and making a decision to ski, I had an unquestioned feeling that we were going to ski the slope. With a splitboarder in the group, the idea of transitioning back in...
[quote="cascadekid's report"]Commitment: Though we had inched only 20′ or so onto the slope from the ridge line before digging a pit and making a decision to ski, I had an unquestioned feeling that we were going to ski the slope. With a splitboarder in the group, the idea of transitioning back in...
author=Garth_Ferber link=topic=30687.msg128430#msg128430 date=1392054086]
So cool that Wolf is still alive and interested to hear the results, and to think about he did the race himself at about the age many of us are now, on equipment he would have considered modern at the time, like the equipment we consider modern now.
Our birthday wishes to Wolf Bauer prompted me to dig into my audio files and pull out the recording I made of...